


The World of Underhell

by z0mb3xor



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Good W. D. Gaster, Hell, Horror, Insanity, Magic-User Frisk, Non-Evil Chara, Pacifist Frisk, Secrets, The Void, Tragedy, Virus, W. D. Gaster is not related to Skelebros
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-07-21 22:25:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7407514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/z0mb3xor/pseuds/z0mb3xor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Frisk fell into the Underground she didn't expect to meet the world she did. Monsters have turned on one another in blind fury from the effects of a mysterious virus leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. Frisk must now embark on a quest to escape this hellish world with nothing but a stick and her sheer DETERMINATION. Expect things to get dark very fast! Female Frisk</p><p>(This story is currently considered cancelled, sorry)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a few things I need to address before this story takes place.  
> 1: Firstly there is no Save, Load, Reset powers in this at all, so if Frisk dies they're dead for good. If somebody else dies Frisk can't just go back and load to save them!  
> 2: Secondly Frisk is a mute girl, as she always is in anything I make that contains her. You don't like it? I don't care, deal with it!  
> 3: Thirdly, Flowey, Chara and Asgore are all NOT going to be a possible villain in this, nor are any of them evil. You'll just have to find out why in time...

Frisk rolled onto her back, groaning in pain. The throbbing pain in her back, legs and head was almost unbearable. Almost. It had been a struggle getting up Mt Ebbot when a hole opened up suddenly, swallowing the small child in a heartbeat. Frisk hardly believed it herself. Maybe she was just too distracted to notice it.

It didn't matter now, she had fallen and was now stuck in the cave. At least… she thought it was a cave. It looked more like some sort of castle ruins. The purple bricks looked covered in vines though, the entire place encased in the stuff. Frisk looked back up to the hole she fell from to find it missing.

That seemed odd… she must have fallen through the hole – it had to be above her somewhere. After all, it was not too dark to see it as the ceiling was clearly visible from her vantage point below. She decided not to dwell on it right now. For all she knew she fell somewhere else and was taken to where she lay. It was only then she realised the bed of flowers she was in. She stood up slightly disorientated, stumbling around groggily.

She saw an entrance into the ruins and made her way over, pushing the heavy door open with what little strength she had left. It put strain in her arms, but she pushed on. Finally, the door was open wide enough for her to squeeze through. Not even a metre ahead she came across a patch of grass that was wildly overgrown. She almost felt like something was supposed to emerge but nothing did. It almost put her at unease.

Trudging on she found set of stairs leading onto another door. There also seemed to be a large amount of dead leaves strewn about the place. Ignoring them she entered through the doorway and came to a room filled with numerous buttons. There were six in all but four seemed to have large X's engraved into the ground below them. She approached the door and tried to open it but it wouldn't budge.

Curious she looked around and found a lever, pulling it in hopes it would open the door. Sadly, only a clicking sound to signal her failure was heard. Thinking a moment, she realised what the X's must mean. Uncertain but out of ideas, she pressed one down with her foot. A series of clicking noises resonated around her but otherwise nothing else happened, the same followed with the other three. Once again she tried to lever. Instead of one clicking sound she heard five and the door swung open.

'Bingo.' Frisk pumped her fist in victory and continued forth on her way. She came into another room when suddenly she kicked a pile of ash. At least she thought it was ash. She couldn't be sure. She walked around it and continued on when she noticed a few piles around the place. It unnerved her greatly but she moved on. It was here she noticed three switches, two of which had arrow markings. Trusting as she had the last room she flicked the switches marked with arrows, hearing the door at the end of the hallway swing open.

This continued for a few rooms, solve a puzzle, open a door, move onwards. It started to become a little tedious and rather unsettling considering the large amount of ash or dust everywhere. Why was it all in piles all around the place? A mystery for another day, she had to figure out a way out of the ruins.

At one puzzle in particular however, as Frisk fell into yet another room she found something peculiar. At her feet, amongst the dead leaves, lay a faded bow. Intrigued she picked it up and looked it over. Frisk found it cute and tied it into her hair, continuing on with the puzzles like normal.

Eventually she came to what looked like the end of her destination, a large, partially destroyed house lay before her. It looked even worse than the ruins themselves. A series of large spikes surrounded the place like a defensive ring.

She took notice of an old, twisted and possibly dead tree that sat in front of the building. She saw in front of it lay a gravestone with the letter T scratched onto it. She noticed however it wasn't just a single letter, the rest was just covered in dust and vines. Curiosity got the better of her as she cleaned up the stone head, running her fingers along it to feel the name.

'Toriel.' It read. Frisk backed away from the gravestone, deciding to take another path she saw just back the way she came. A large spiral staircase stood before her and she began her ascent. She began to regret her decision after a minute as her legs began to shake, she'd done enough walking as it was. However, she saw a light at the end and felt a new found energy coursing through her veins.

As she finally emerged up top she saw a distant city. Even from here she could see the fire and smoke billowing from the many buildings. She saw a few interesting and radically different areas that she would journey if she wanted to reach the city, if she wanted to at all. There was a land of ice and snow, one of rock and water and lastly a land of lava. It was all drastically different and it made the whole journey seem a little bit daunting. From the looks of things, the ruins were at the edge of the land of ice and snow.

A sound behind her caught her attention. She turned quickly to hear metal footsteps ascending the staircase she had come up. It was the only way up or down it seemed and there was nothing to hide behind up here. There was no escape. She waited in frightening anticipation, her stomach knotting and her mind swimming with possibilities as the footsteps echoed loudly.

The being emerged atop the stairs, clad in full metal armour with a red cape flowing behind him. He had a sword at his side while his right hand had a blue glow. She inspected his armour a bit more, seeing it was a dark grey colour with a symbol embossed onto the chest plate. The pauldrons had some fancy embellishments, the gauntlets and tasset also including the strange vinelike pattern.

Frisk took a step back, her breath hitching in her throat as the being stared at her a few moments. She couldn't run past him; she didn't know if he was quick enough to react on time. So she waited, hoping he'd make the first move. Instead he stood absolutely still, eyeing her. Then at last, they took of their helmet, revealing a face of shock.

"A… a human?" They asked in disbelief, a voice so soft yet so loud at the same time. Though that was all Frisk heard as they fainted at the sight of their face, or lack thereof. They didn't even feel their body hit the ground before the world swirled into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's an introductory chapter for you guys. Now I don't even need to try and hide it, I think we all know who that was standing there. The next chapter will be... I don't know never make me stick to a schedule, I never can. Just wait around and enjoy this I guess, I will see you guys with an actual chapter later!


	2. Cold As Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who was this mysterious figure that Frisk has encountered within the Ruins? Could they be friend or foe? Find out below!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back. So at long last we will get to see who the 'mysterious' figure was that Frisk encountered. But come on, I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of you will know easily who that was from his description. Another thing, this is a long chapter by my standards, so like I tried to find all the mistakes and fix it, but you MAY find more, if so just tell me please!
> 
> Let's go!

Frisk felt herself floating in a void of some kind. It was cold yet she did not feel it. It was a weird sensation, being cold but at the same time not. A feeling she could not quite describe. She looked around but could not see a thing, only herself. There was no light yet she was lit up clearly. Perplexed, she tried to walk, yet could not, or at least showed no signs of movement through the void.

She became frustrated at this point, she tried to make a swimming motion. She then realised even if she was moving there was no way to tell, it was just black everywhere, no sign of anything at all. At least for the moment. Her thoughts were soon interrupted when something shifted before her eyes. A figure began to form itself before her.

They were black, impossibly so. They seemed to darken the already black void around them. Soon a white skull came into view, a crack at each eye travelling in opposite directions. They had a blue pupil on their left and an orange on their right. As the rest of the body took shape she noticed it wore a black suit, almost like a tuxedo of some kind. It had five hands floating above their head, each skeletal in appearance with a symbol cut into the middle of them. It brought its arms from behind its back and began to sign with yet two more hands.

"Hello young one, you seem lost." Although they signed their voice rang out around them, a male from the sounds of it. His mouth never moved but the voice was there all the same.

"Uhm… hi?" Frisk heard her own voice while she signed. Curious she tried to speak normally but no sound emerged.

"Sadly the void does not work those wonders." The man said again, eyeing Frisk in amusement. "So what is your name may I ask?"

"Frisk, tell me yours." She demanded. He let out a chuckle and shrugged.

"If you insist. I am Professor Wingdings Gaster, but just call me G." He extended a hand for her to shake, which she did so in discomfort. "I understand this must be confusing to a mind such as yours. You are in The Void, a dimension I created to escape the world you currently reside." G gave a sad smile.

"So are you a good guy?" Frisk wanted to know.

"I could be classified as such, depending on your own alignment. Though not all of my actions are pure. I should probably start making sense." He smirked.

"That would be nice." Frisk nodded with a frown of her own.

"Ok, well I have visited you in your unconscious state to forewarn you. This is not a nice world. Most every creature out here has been driven mad by the force that has rooted itself down here. You cannot save them, no matter how hard you try. This is a world where you must kill your opponent before they kill you." He paused a moment to let the information sink in.

"Though not all minds have been tainted. There may be a few out there who you can trust, whom of which I do not know. Maybe I'm wrong and those I thought could resist the madness may have fallen in the time of my absence. No matter… don't let your guard down." He let out a sigh.

"You must escape while you can human, this world is not one you will live long in. There is but one exit, a magical barrier over in the former kings castle on the opposite end of where you currently reside. I know, cliché isn't it?" He let out a snort of amusement at Frisks expression of annoyance.

"Anyway to cross this barrier you require a monster soul which you can absorb if they give it up willingly, which may be difficult in this world. The problem is, a monster could pass through if they acquired your soul. What makes it especially irritating is they don't need you to be willing, they just need you dead." His expression twisted into one of anger.

"That's not very fair." Frisk grunted, trying her best not to curse under the circumstances.

"No it isn't. I wish I could bring you to where I reside but… that'd be torment for one such as you. You'd grow bored here, mad even, which isn't fair on you. But luckily I can guide you every time you slumber. The only downside is you won't remember this when you awaken." He frowned.

"Then why bother?" She asked confused.

"Well you may forget but… well let me explain. I've told you how to escape so now when you awaken you'll get a feeling you know how but won't remember how you acquired the knowledge. If I warn you about something that may happen in a certain place you will get a sense of dread, or déjà vu. So that's something at least." He shrugged.

"Something is better than nothing." She mumbled in agreement.

"Glad you agree. Now all I can say for the moment is you must leave the ruins, head to a town named Snowdin. You will need some protection to get there though." He explained to her.

"Well I mean I wouldn't be here if I were dead, so the… thing that came across me before I passed out mightn't be evil. Maybe they could help." Frisk suggested. G rubbed his chin in thought.

"I have no idea who you mean, but I pray you are right, somebody to protect you on your journey may be very handy. Just keep an eye out when you arrive near some old guard posts, Doggo likes to hang around there. He's relentless." With the snap of his fingers Frisk was taken away from her dream.

Frisk awoke with a start, her eyes darting around the room quickly, instantly forgetting the dream she had. An orange glow flittered about, likely from a fireplace judging from the warmth and the sound of crackling. She tried to get up but felt she couldn't. She sensed a force holding her to the ground, looking over at the source to find a green glow. She felt her entire body being pinned heavily to the ground as she saw the figure step closer. It was the same one clad in armour, minus the cape, while his helmet had returned to cover his face however.

He lifted the visor with his free hand, the light bathing his face in a hellish glow. Frisk looked deep into his blackened eye sockets, feeling a chill run down her spine as the monster removed his helmet again, dropping it to the ground.

"You have no reason to be afraid human, I have no intention to harm you." He spoke in a way that sounded both loud and quiet at the same time. Frisk tried to struggle but it was in vain, she couldn't move from her place. "You may be wondering what my name is, and I shall indulge you. I am Papyrus… lone survivor of the Royal Guard." Papyrus announced. "Guess that makes me Caption huh?" He chuckled, sitting himself in an old armchair by the fire.

He gazed into the fire longingly, seemingly leaving the world for a moment before snapping back into reality. He turned to look at his captive struggling in place. For a second he was perplexed, waiting for a response yet yielded none. Curious he let her arms free but not her body. To his amusement his thoughts were correct.

'What are you?' Frisk signed. Papyrus let out a sigh and lay back comfortably.

"So you speak in hands too. Lucky for you most of us down here do." Papyrus smiled, his empty sockets seemed to shift as well. They seemed… relaxed, which didn't make a lot of sense. He was bone, bone didn't shift to seem relaxed, nor could it turn into a smile. "I'm sure you should have guessed by now, I'm a skeleton."

'Skeleton's don't talk.' Frisk huffed, crossing her arms as Papyrus tried his best not to laugh.

"Maybe not on the surface, but down here we… I do." He seemed to correct himself, turning away from Frisk a moment to stare into the fire. She waited patiently for his gaze to return so she could speak again.

'What did you mean by we?' She asked curiously, noticing the slight shift in the skeletons facial features. It seemed to be hurt for a split second before turning into one of annoyance.

"You ask too many personal questions." He muttered, looking back to the fire and flicking his wrist as the green around it dissipated. Frisk felt her limbs return to her control, able to stand at last. "If you wish to leave again I shalln't stop you." He didn't even look at her as he crossed his hands on his lap, leaning forwards as if concentrating on a television program.

She finally got a look at the room she was in. It was an old living room from the looks of it. There was the fireplace and chair which the skeleton currently resided. Beside the fireplace a dusty bookshelf sat. Frisk was on a very old looking beanbag with a rotten wooden table and set of chairs behind her. The ceiling was partially collapsed over at one doorway that looked to lead into the kitchen. The hole let in the smallest amount of light.

"Well?" Papyrus' voice cut through her thoughts like a knife. It wasn't a hostile voice, but it certainly wasn't friendly. He finally looked her dead in the eye again which sent shivers throughout her body.

'I'm not exactly sure where I should be going to leave.' Frisk explained nervously, her hands quivering in fear. Papyrus noticed this and let out a heavy sigh.

"Sorry if either my cruel demeanour put you off or maybe my terrifying skull, but I assure I am no threat, not with greater evil outside these ruins." Papyrus fixed his gaze back onto Frisk as he had let it drift it slowly to the ground.

'It's ok… I'm just not used to a talking skeleton.' She told him. He let out a huff and turned his chair to better face the kid.

"Yeah well guess no human would be. So tell me, what brings you down here?" Papyrus asked intrigued, clasping his hands together in front of his mouth and resting his elbows on his knees as he leant forth.

'I came up here because I'd heard stories of monsters and told my friends they were just big babies. Then I went up to prove them wrong, told them I'd grab a yellow flower that only grew at the peak of the mountain. Then… a hole opened up beneath me.' Frisk still had a hard time believing it herself. Papyrus let out a slow hum before nodding.

"The mountain has a knack for surprising you humans." He almost smiled but managed to prevent himself from doing so. "You should have believed their stories, because now you are trapped in here with only a depressed skeleton, one who clings too tightly onto the hopes that he may one day return home without worrying that he may die getting there." Papyrus' voice cracked towards the end but he did not look upset. He seemed to be putting on an act.

'I think I know a way out.' Frisk pointed out. Papyrus had his attention back on the small child. 'I feel like there's something in the old castle that could help.' Frisk explained, unsure to the origin of the feeling.

"Hmm? Oh… I didn't think about bringing it up." Papyrus shrugged, looking at the expression of disbelief etched onto Frisks' face. "It's protected by a magical barrier that can only be passed if you contain a willing monster soul. They would have to give it to you by choice, which not a lot would do if things weren't hell." Papyrus scoffed, leaning back in his chair.

'Could you take me there?' Frisk asked. Papyrus almost burst into laughter but he quickly corrected himself.

"Why? There's nothing for you there, don't drag me along into this hopeless quest for closure." Papyrus waved his hand dismissively in her direction, crossing his arms in front of him.

'But I can't defend myself. You have armour Papyrus, and a sword, you could help me.' Frisk pleaded, putting on her best puppy dog eyes.

"Puppies give me nightmares these days." Papyrus muttered at the sight of her beg. Frisk began to look down sullenly, a look of defeat in her eyes. "Look human I would help if I could, I love to help people, but this is pointless, you won't find somebody out there willing to give up their soul to let you leave this hell. They'll betray you and take yours for themselves." Papyrus tried to reason.

'Then why haven't you taken my soul?' Frisk signed rather angrily, Papyrus could envision her snapping at him.

"I'm too nice for that, but not crazy enough to go trudging on a pointless quest." He turned to gaze into the fire for the hundredth time. Frisk stood before him and continued.

'Do you have any reason to stay here?' She asked, putting her hands on her hips. Papyrus leant back in his chair in thought. 'Here's something better… do you even have a purpose to live for right now?' Frisk asked rather harshly. Normally Papyrus would react to such a question but as he thought it over he began to realise she was right.

He had wasted his life sitting in these ruins, waiting for his brother to return like he promised he would. He waited so long until he gave up hope, staying with Toriel until she too fell to the madness. He had to strike her down himself, it tore at his very core. He had given up hope long ago, almost taken his own life on several occasions. Finally, he spoke up.

"Why does it matter?" He grunted, cracking his knuckles.

'If you have no purpose, why not help a girl escape the hell you so desperately wish to yourself. Why not at least give one person a happy ending where you could not have your own.' Frisk grunted, leaving Papyrus in thought.

"Human… as much as I hate to say it, you are right. I've been sitting here, wasting away in these ruins with no purpose of my own, waiting until the madness claimed me too. It seems my willpower is stronger then I realised for I still stand today." He got up from his seat and beat his chest with a fist.

"So as my last duty, I, the Great Papyrus, will take it upon himself to grant this last wish and bring you home." He announced proudly, grabbing his sword which had been laying hidden behind the chair, grabbed his helmet from the floor and marched into the next room. Frisk followed behind, watching as he put on his helmet and cape, and trekked down the stairs that lead into a basement.

Frisk tried to keep up but the skeletons legs were far too long. He rounded the corner before Frisk had even made it halfway down the damp, dark hallway. She saw what seemed like thousands of vines covering the walls, picking up the pace as a chill wind swept by. As she came around the corner she found Papyrus standing by a pile of rubble which was covered in a tangle of dead vines.

"It was the last time we saw him." Papyrus spoke aloud, Frisk unsure if he was speaking to himself or her. "That stupid flower… he wanted to protect us, the idiot didn't seem to want to save himself though as he became trapped on the other side." Papyrus continued. He looked down at his hand as magic circled it.

'So what now?' Frisk asked. Papyrus gave a smile under his faceplate before a series of large bones emerged from the ground, smashing into the boulders and turning them into a cloud of dust. Luckily Papyrus raised a wall in front of them both to prevent the childs lungs from filling with said dust.

"No point keeping this place protected, I am the only one left. I had to kill… everyone…" He shook his head and continued onwards, this time at a slower pace to allow Frisk to keep up.

'So this place was a safe zone?' Frisk probed.

"Safe is a loose word now. It was… but it seemed once the cloud hit us all it was only a matter of time until we fell." Papyrus muttered aloud. No matter how quiet he tried to be he always seemed very loud.

'What cloud?' Frisk was asking a few questions today.

"A massive swirling mass of red and black spread across the land in no time, driving nearly half the population insane instantly. It made them violent, crazy, but we thought the rest of us were safe from it because we didn't turn immediately. We were wrong… enough questions, it's about to get real cold outside." Papyrus threw a jacket at Firsk which he seemed to grab from nowhere.

'Thanks I guess.' Frisk looked at the large blue jacket. It was baggy with two side pockets and a tuft of mangy wool going around the hood. She slipped it on and felt instantly warmer.

"Take care of that, it was my brothers." Papyrus said coldly. Suddenly the jacket felt much less warm. They finally made it to a door which Papyrus opened with ease, stepping out into the freezing wind. He seemed unaffected as he urged Frisk to follow.

'Could we go when there isn't a blizzard?' Frisk asked. Papyrus shook his head and shouted to be heard above the wind.

"It doesn't stop, it only dies down slightly or picks up more, we should go now while it's light." He was easily heard above the sound of whipping wind due to his naturally loud voice. If this was light, then Frisk didn't want to wait to see what a heavy blizzard was like. Reluctantly she stepped outside, instantly regretting her decision.

The wind felt like it burned their skin, the snow hitting them like a hailstorm. The chill ran deep into their bones in an instant, shivers going up their spine in no time. Frisk had to just trust in Papyrus that it was currently a light storm and the best time to leave was right now.

"What's wrong human?" Papyrus asked with a hint of concern. Frisk tried to look up at him through the storm but had to squint to see anything at all.

'Too cold.' They signed slowly. Papyrus stood still a moment before snapping his fingers, which didn't work so well with gauntlets on.

"Of course, humans are more susceptible to the harsh winter storms then one such as I." Papyrus mused while rubbing his chin. He took off a gauntlet, snapping his fingers again as a flame summoned itself to his hand. The flame drifted down to hover in front of Frisks face.

'Uh…' Frisk was at a loss for words, unsure how to respond.

"This is where you thank me for trying to keep you warm child." He huffed as he shoved his gauntlet back onto his hand roughly.

'Sorry… thanks Papyrus.' He barely gave her any acknowledgement as he marched on. Frisk tried to trail behind as the wind tried to tear her clothes from her body. There were thick woods to her left and a dangerous drop off to her right.

After a few minutes they came across a bridge with a massive gate which looked scorched but still stood proudly to block their path. Papyrus let out an almost amused snort as he blasted the wooden door apart with a few bones.

"I never did build a better gate." He spoke more to himself then to Frisk. They continued on in silence when the winds suddenly died down to a light breeze. Papyrus drew his sword and even Frisk felt a chill run up their spine, and this time, not from the cold.

'Something doesn't feel right here…' Frisk noted, seeing a guard station standing not far from where they resided. Something about this place felt very, very off.

"I know; I'm getting that vibe from the sudden drop in wind." Papyrus readied his magic and began to shuffle forwards, Frisk deciding to wait for the all clear. He reached the station and peeked inside, looking around before turning back to Frisk. "I don't se- LOOK OUT HUMAN!" Papyrus called, reaching out to her with his magic.

Before Frisk could even react she was pulled forth by an unknown force, a blue hue being applied to her body until she reached Papyrus' side. She finally got to turn to see a large, dog like creature with two short swords growling where she once stood. He was bipedal but his back was rather hunched over as if his upper body was too much to handle. He wore only a pair of torn leopard print pants to cover his body.

"Stand down Doggo, I do not wish to harm you." Papyrus warned, holding his sword out as a sign to back off. Doggo didn't seem to listen as he came forth cautiously. When he was within a few feet he leapt forth with surprising speed, bringing his swords down on Papyrus. But Papyrus was ready.

The sound of clashing steel echoed throughout the forest as Papyrus blocked his attack with his own sword, shoving Doggo back and taking a defensive stance. Doggo paced back and forth and charged again, one sword in a thrusting motion as another came in a downwards swipe. Papyrus dodged left for the thrust and knocked Doggo's swipe with his sword, knocking the canine off balance.

He recovered quickly, baring his teeth as he let out an angry bark. Papyrus summoned a few bones around himself and sent them towards his opponent. Doggo deflected two and dove to the side to avoid the rest. This time Papyrus attacked in melee, charging forth with a leftwards swipe. Doggo barely had time to react as he leapt over the sword with a roll, trying to steady himself as Papyrus brought another swipe downwards.

Doggo held his swords in a cross above him to deflect the blow but Papyrus was strong, knocking through his block but not quite hitting Doggo himself. Doggo was realising the fight was not quite going his way, deciding to switch targets. He began to eye Frisk hungrily. Dashing in her direction Frisk tried to let out a sound of distress but no such sound emerged. Frisk held her hands outwards to protect herself when she felt a searing pain run down her arms to her hands. The pain forced her eyes closed as she tried to scream

She heard a loud yelp followed by something heavy landing in the snow. Frisk lowered her hands and slowly opened her eyes to find Doggo dazed on the ground roughly ten feet from her position. She thought Papyrus had done something but from the rigid stance of his body he didn't seem to understand what happened. Before an explanation could be given Papyrus took Frisks arm and ran, practically dragging Frisk along behind him as he ran.

Within minutes the storm had picked up again, stronger than what it was before they left. In a hurry Papyrus saw another guard station and almost literally threw Frisk inside, leaping in himself and closing the shutter at the front and locking it. He was breathing heavily, not likely from the run but from shock. Now that they were safe Papyrus removed his helmet to speak.

"H-human! How on earth did you do that?" Papyrus demanded. Frisks only response was a look of puzzlement. Papyrus ran a hand down his face in frustration. "You used magic! Actual magic!" Papyrus exclaimed.

'Is that what it was?' Frisk asked, looking down at her hands to find nothing had changed. She thought they'd be burnt from how hot they felt when it happened.

"It was a blasting shockwave of blue, you used a blue attack!" Papyrus let out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his skull. "Wowie… never have I seen a human use magic, nor a monster use an attack such as that." Frisk continued to look confused at his statements.

'I still have a hard time understanding what you're going on about.' Frisk signed with annoyance. Papyrus' face twisted into one of equal annoyance.

"Are you thick? You used magic! How many times do I have to tell you that! Can human minds not just comprehend that?" He announced rather harshly. Frisk recoiled in surprise, scooting away from him in slight fear. Papyrus didn't look sorry about it either, he just crossed his arms and scoffed. "How hard is it to understand?" He muttered.

Frisk didn't respond, she just curled up into a tight ball in the corner of the station, eyeing him fearfully, waiting for him to make a move. She had never felt more afraid of somebody she thought so nice in her life. At least she thought he was nice, she had only met two monsters since coming down here and he was definitely the nicer of the two.

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air between the two as they sat waiting for the storm to pass. It lightened up but the sound of Doggo sniffing around outside kept them huddled inside. Soon, he either lost interest or felt too cold to continue. Once he had left the storm began to pick up again. The silence stretched on, leaving both present feeling very on edge for the remainder of their time in the guard station.

Within an hour the storm had died down once more to a more tolerable level. Slowly Papyrus lifted the latch and opened the station up, treating it as if the storm would rip violently through their station if he opened the window. He peered around outside a while before stepping out, waiting for Frisk to clamber her way out on her own.

"Good, let's go." Papyrus said gruffly, turning and continuing on his way, his cape almost hitting Frisks face. She kept at a larger distance this time compared to how she did last time. Papyrus noticed this and felt it was better she kept her distance from him, he wasn't in the right mind frame at the moment.

They came across a clearing in which a path seemed to be cleared through the snow, winding slightly about. Oddly enough their seemed to be large clumps of snow stacked up but not spilling onto the pathway, it was really strange. Papyrus let out a sigh and began to walk down the path.

"My invisible electrical fence maze, shame to see it go to waste." He murmured, being careful to stick to the middle. Frisk guessed that was why the snow just stacked up without spilling over, it was up against an invisible electric fence. She followed Papyrus' footsteps almost exactly, not wanting to find out if the maze was still active.

They reached the other side without an issue and continued on their way. But then suddenly, the wind left again putting a notable discomfort in the air. Papyrus drew his sword for a second time, looking around all over this time, not just ahead of them. After a short time, a large winged creature flew up from the cliff side with a screech, flying towards Papyrus.

He shoved Frisk roughly to the ground and took a swipe at the creature, missing by mere inches as it flew overhead with a squawk. It kept circling Papyrus, diving before swooping away last second to avoid his attack. Frisk took notice it was just trying to tire him out. But Papyrus took note of this as well, his hand glowing blue as the thing was brought crashing to the ground.

It got to its feet and let out an ear-splitting cry, jumping from side to side in an attempt to confuse Papyrus, which it soon found to be ineffective. It knew it couldn't attack Papyrus directly without a weapon, not like Doggo. But its rage drove it on without so much as a second thought, hissing and snarling as it charged. Papyrus readied his blade as it came charging forth only to have it tackled out of its path by something else.

"Hold them down!" A voice called above the commotion. Frisk looked over to the source of the voice, finding two figures running towards them. There was an orange creature that looked a little like some kind of demon while another was a man who was made of literal fire. The two creatures wrestled until the interloper leapt off. It was then Frisk saw that the creatures were almost identical in appearance, one being teal while another was a deeper blue.

"Get them now!" The teal one called. The man of fire let out a fireball, striking the blue creature in its side and knocking it off its feet. "Come on let's go, before my old friend comes to his sense." The teal one urged.

"Thanks Snowdrake." Papyrus huffed, gesturing Frisk to follow as Papyrus trailed behind Snowdrake. "I didn't know you three would hold out as long as you have." Papyrus admitted as they all ran. Frisk felt herself falling behind until Snowdrake plucked her up into his talons and flew ahead so as to not leave them behind.

The group turned off and headed down a hill, running along a thin stretch of land until dashing into a cave. They all began to stop in front of a large doorway and let out breaths of relief. They sat down as Snowdrake set Frisk down on the ground and making their way into a corner, muttering.

"Snowdrake, Nacarat, Grillby, how are you all still sane?" Papyrus asked in disbelief. He removed his helmet once more and set it aside.

"We're stronger willed then we realised, that and we all took shelter in Grillby's when the storm initially hit so we might not have been as badly affected." Nacarat explained to them. Snowdrake gave a snort of annoyance.

"Yeah you two seem to be holding out fine, we all know I'm losing it though." He snarled rather harshly, scratching his feet along the ground.

"I honestly didn't expect to encounter a friendly face out here, I thought everyone was either dead or mad." Papyrus confessed with a sullen look on his face.

"What about your brother, he's got to be sane still right? Well I mean he gave his jacket to the kid." Nacarat asked with concern. Papyrus let out a heavy sigh and shook his head.

"I have no idea, he vanished one day. We were in the ruins with a bunch of other monsters but… they all went mad, one by one. Even… even the former queen Toriel. Ugh why is my brother so damn lazy… I swear if he left because he gave up…" Papyrus brought his knees to his chest as he let out another sigh. "I was alone for months until the human here arrived." Papyrus gestured to Frisk.

"We haven't even seen a human in years, we thought we were doomed." Nacarat laughed nervously, looking in Frisks direction. "So where are you taking them?"

"They want to escape, so I'm taking them to the barrier and hoping we find a willing soul along the way." Papyrus explained to them.

'Emphasis on try.' Frisk signed. The newcomers gave a look of puzzlement except Grillby.

"We don't speak in hands sorry." Nacarat gave a shrug. Frisk gave an annoyed look at Papyrus, remembering him claiming most monsters spoke in hands. However Grillby replied.

'Haven't met another who could not speak in a while.' Grillby's flame lit up a little and had an almost green tinge.

'I'm glad I'm not alone.' Frisk smiled in response.

"Hang on, with a seventh human couldn't we use their soul to free us all?" Nacarat asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry you want to release these monsters onto the world? Even if we wanted to we have no idea where the other souls are!" Papyrus snapped with a look of anger Frisk had never seen on anybody in her life, not even back in the sentry station. Nacarat flinched in response to the outburst.

"I-I'm sorry Paps… I was… I wasn't thinking clearly." He shrugged while looking to the floor.

"No… I shouldn't snap, especially with one such as the human around." Papyrus groaned, rubbing his eye sockets and muttering to himself.

'So what's our plan?' Frisk asked. Grillby rubbed his chin and thought it over.

'We should rest for the moment; the storm seems to be picking up again.' Grillby explained. Papyrus translated for him and the group agreed. Snowdrake did so grudgingly though while continuing to skitter on the spot.

The silence Frisk had felt back in the sentry station returned, an uncomfortable feeling she couldn't shake. She never liked silence, even with the howling wind outside it was deafeningly quiet inside. Frisk decided to listen to the dripping of water that fell from the ceiling to the floor.

The dripping was almost soothing. At least it had something for Frisk to focus on for the moment. She listened to the rhythmic trickling of the water, closing her eyes and just relaxing. If she wasn't under threat of being torn apart by random monsters at any moment she would say she was at peace. A shrill scream from outside caught her attention however, the scream followed by a series of growls before hitting silence.

"Poor soul should've waited until it was clearer to see." Papyrus scoffed, seemingly uncaring that somebody just lost their life.

"The storm is quite fierce right now huh…" Nacarat got to his feet and hummed to himself.

"What's up? See something?" Papyrus asked as he noticed Nacarat peering into the blizzard.

"Well… the storm is real fierce right now right? Well… every time we come across one of the crazies it seems to calm the storm, and whenever its wild they seem to be gone too." Nacarat pointed out to the group.

"Are you saying we should travel while the winds are harsh?" Papyrus asked in disbelief. Nacarat gave a sound of acknowledgment.

"I say it's a sound plan." Snowdrake spoke up from his corner.

"Excuse me? Hang on are you all plain crazy? Why on earth would we even dream of going out when the wind could tear the skin from your bones, and the bones from my magnificent marrow?" Papyrus exclaimed with a hint of anger.

"Well the crazies seem to either hate the fierce storm too or… they are surrounded by an aura of calm storm. Look it's an insane plan but hell it's all we got. We wait until the storm clears it means one is nearby, I say we go now." Nacarat explained his theory, several people around the room beginning to realise he was right.

"You're bat crap crazy… but you are all going regardless of what I say are you not?" Papyrus asked. A series of nods were his reply. He looked down at Frisk for a response who gave a stern nod. "Well darn… if the kid is going I guess I'm being forced to." He got up from his place, his armour and bones rattling from laying so still.

"Frisk, stick near Grillbz, he'll keep you warm, the rest of us can handle a mere blizzard." Nacarat peered outside before stepping out of the cave, being swallowed by the mass of swirling white snow. The others followed shortly after, barely seeing his orange form in front of them.

"I'll lead, I know this place better than any of you, I could get through blindfolded." Papyrus called above the wind, shoving his helmet back on. Everybody gave a nod as Frisk grabbed onto Grillby's coat to keep close. His heat was barely enough to keep her from backing out of the plan. Frisk was shivering like mad but she kept on marching, sticking to Grillby like glue.

They were going at a slow pace for the moment, trying to stay in sight of one another and still hope that Papyrus was true to his word and led them to safety. Occasionally Frisk would be lifted over a set of spikes that blocked their way but otherwise it was fine. For now, it seemed ok until Papyrus halted the group. They stood confused until they saw the massive field of ice before them.

"What do we do? Send Grillby?" Nacarat shouted above the wind. Papyrus shook his head. He gave them a hand sign to tell them to wait in place as he slid across the ice. They heard a series of clicks and a loud rumble before Papyrus slid back to them. He got them to line up wordlessly and follow his trail across the ice. Grillby didn't seem to melt the ice to Frisks surprise as they slide into a patch of clear snow. Then they slid again across a narrow gap, emerging on the other side without an issue.

"Well that went smoothly." Papyrus let out a breath of relief but it soon caught in his throat when the blizzard died down immensely. Instantly the others got into a battle ready stance. Papyrus drew his sword, Grillby summoned fireballs into his hands, Snowdrake bared his fangs and readied his claws. Nacarat, lacking arms of any kind, took cover in between the trio with Frisk by his side.

"You ready for another fight?" Papyrus asked the trio of warriors.

"Who is it this time?" Snowdrake snarled ready for anything. That was when they heard not just one howl, but three. And they did not sound happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you go, enjoy!


	3. Cerberus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A series of growls is heard as the group prepares for combat with the remnants of the Snowdin Canine Unit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry in advance as there is a part which is very dialogue heavy as it has a character explaining to Frisk what magic is, the kinds of magic there are, soul magics and more. Its… very boring for some but I urge you to read it anyway, just in case.
> 
> So last chapter I left us just before a fight began, let's pick up from where we left off shall we?

The growls of the three dogs reached the ears of all five present. Papyrus, Grillby and Snowdrake had readied themselves in a triangle formation around Frisk and Nacarat, who had no fighting abilities. Panting was soon heard tearing across the empty snow when a huge dog in armour came into view over the cliff face. The armour had a lot of dust covering it with said dust also in its fur.

"Well Greater Dog is here, who wants to tango with-" Papyrus couldn't finish as Snowdrake charged onwards with glee, wanting to tear apart the large beast before him. Before Papyrus or Grillby could move in to help, Lesser Dog emerged from the snow and made a beeline for Grillby. As Grillby became occupied with Lesser Dog, Doggo returned from over the cliff and locked eyes with Papyrus.

"Oh, we're doing this dance again are we?" Papyrus asked semi-amused.

"You guys have fun… I guess." Nacarat called nervously, backing away from the combat with Frisk clinging to his back. Doggo instantly clashed steel with Papyrus with a new found vigour from before, wanting nothing but to gnaw on the skeletons bones. Papyrus had just enough time to react as he parried his attack, returning with one of his own.

Greater Dog let out a fearsome bark while Snowdrake let out a shriek to match. He leapt towards the giants head, his talons out but the beast knew it was coming, knocking him aside with his spear. Snowdrake was not off put however, instantly back on his feet and circling Greater Dog. Quick as lighting, he sunk his talons into his back, piercing his armour. Greater Dog let out a howl of pain and tried to throw him off, but Snowdrake was latched on tight.

Clinging on for dear life, Snowdrake began to use his beak to bite into the dogs exposed neck, trying to kill him swiftly so he could move on to his next victim. However, it was a struggle, the dogs hide was tougher then he realised, but this would not deter him from his mission. He would kill this monstrosity or die trying. Preferably the former.

Lesser Dog was becoming a major problem for Grillby, blocking his fireballs with his shield no problem. As Grillby paused to regain a bit of energy Lesser Dogs neck shot outwards, his jaws snapping at Grillby. Luckily his heat was enough to deter Lesser Dog from actually making contact. He may be crazy but he wasn't stupid, he knew he couldn't bite Grillby now.

Instead he began to run forwards with his shield held out in front of him to protect himself. Grillby didn't have enough time to react at the dogs surprising speed, being knocked aside by the shield and into the snow. It felt like being hit by a truck, not that Grillby knew what a truck was. Lesser Dog took the opportunity to pounce onto his opponent, pinning him with his shield.

Papyrus continued his defence at Doggos flurry of attacks, there seemed to be something new in his frenzied, blood red eyes. Doggo tried to slide under Papyrus' attack and kicked out the skeletons legs, said skeleton falling onto Doggo in the process. Surprised, he tried to stand himself back up but Doggo held him down, snapping his jaws at his head in the process. Angered, Papyrus used his magic to throw Doggo off of him and into the snow nearby.

Doggo got himself back up and saw something move in the corner of his eye, something shivering. He saw Frisk and a wicked grin made its way onto his lips. With Papyrus still not on his feet Doggo made a run for Frisk as he had done less than an hour earlier. Frisk tried to summon her magic again to no avail, letting out a noiseless scream as Doggo leapt at her.

Nacarat kicked Doggo in the head, knocking him off course and into the snow beside Frisk. He kept kicking him in the head but Doggo managed to grab onto his leg and throw him away. Doggo flinched as a yelp was heard to his left, watching as Greater Dog fell into dust at last. He had mere seconds to react as Snowdrake tackled Doggo, trying to tear him apart as he did his companion.

Lesser Dog looked away at the sound of his dying comrade which was his first mistake. Grillby took advantage of this and managed to shove the dog off of himself. Lesser Dog yelped as he was tossed aside, dropping his shield in the process. He entered fight or flight, seeing his shield a few feet away but escape equally as close. He made his second and final mistake. Grillby managed to strike him in the leg as he tried to make his escape, the dog tumbling over the cliff with a distressed howl as he plummeted most likely to his demise.

Doggo sensed the fight had turned against him, he had to escape. He managed to throw Snowdrake off of him and made a break for the cliff face, stabbing one of his swords into the wall and beginning his descent.

"Don't let him escape again!" Papyrus ordered, rushing to the cliff side and hurling bones in his direction. Doggo managed to dodge them as he scaled down the rock face, soon leaving range of Papyrus' magic attacks. He let out a howl of victory despite losing the battle prior.

"That was a hairy situation." Nacarat breathed with a grin, shaking the snow off his body. Snowdrake let out a snarl and turned to Nacarat.

"I'd take this a bit more seriously if I were you jester." Snowdrake snapped, his teeth bared and approaching Nacarat in a threatening manner. He had practically spat the name jester, hoping to instil fear into his ally.

"Snowdrake, calm yourself! Don't give in." Papyrus tried to reason. Snowdrake was mere inches from Nacarat before he let out a heavy sigh, turning away from the orange jester.

"Yeah… we know it's too late for me." He grunted, scratching around in the snow as if looking for something. In a few short moments the blizzard began to pick up again.

"Well as long as the blizzards return every time you're here then we can be sure you're safe to be around." Nacarat beamed with glee, Snowdrake scoffing at his optimism.

"Stick close to Grillby again Frisk!" Papyrus instructed, Frisk giving a nod and clinging to his coat once more. Grillby looked down at the child, seeing no visible injuries, and began to follow along behind Papyrus as he lead the way.

As they marched Snowdrake lagged behind a bit further. He wanted to be left behind so they wouldn't need to worry about him anymore, he was already losing it. He could feel it in his heart and his blood. It felt like his insides were boiling with rage he could not explain, a desire to hurt or kill anything nearby. However something was telling him to stick around just a bit longer, so he shook his head and grit his teeth.

The walk was done in silence, nobody saying a word to another as they marched on. They came to a bridge at last, one of the last obstacles they would come across on their journey to Snowdin. The blizzard had died down a bit so they were all on edge.

"Hey, where'd Snowdrake go?" Nacarat pointed out, only know just noticing his absence.

"He didn't… leave us did he?" Papyrus asked, scratching his skull in confusion.

"Sorry, I'm just a bit slow is all." Snowdrake called, emerging from the edge of the thick blizzard storm.

"I don't know, you sure you're ok? I mean I'm sure you're ok." Nacarat assumed in his ever positive attitude. It was getting on Papyrus' nerves now. Hoping he wouldn't have to keep hearing his positivity any longer he began to make his way across the bridge. The others took note and began to follow.

'Why aren't you burning the bridge Grillby? It's made of wood.' Frisk asked. Grillby gave a shrug as he walked on, reaching the other side without a hassle. All five did so with ease when Nacarat turned back to the bridge.

"I don't want anything following us so… here goes nothing. Hiyaa!" Nacarat used his horn to cut the rope holding up the bridge. His smile of victory was replaced with a frown of confusion. "Why didn't the bridge fall?"

"It's not a wooden bridge, it is merely rock painted to look like a bridge. When I was younger I added rope to make it look cool. I was an idiot back then." Papyrus pointed out, continuing to the town entrance of Snowdin. The blizzard was all but gone when they stepped into the towns perimeter, all of them a bit jumpy at the possibility of danger.

A wind chime was heard tinkling in the distance which did nothing to help lighten the mood. It was a ghost town, all houses empty and devoid of any life. The group of monsters and one human began to inch deeper into town at a snails pace, easily put off by the atmosphere.

A series of loud grunts were heard as they came closer to the centre of town, the group looking north to the source of the sound. Nobody dared go and find out what it was but Papyrus already had some ideas.

Grillby paused in front of his bar, looking on at the destruction. The front door had long since been destroyed while several large holes dotted the walls. There were scorch marks inside and even a handful of glowing blue spears poking out of the front wall. The window had been barricaded and destroyed again from the looks of it, bits of planks hanging uselessly on their nails.

"Come on Grillbz… let's just… get out of here first, we can build you a new one of the surface yeah?" Nacarat suggested, trying to coax Grillby to continue. Papyrus stopped in his tracks and let out a disgruntled sound.

"Can we not stop now; we should keep moving." Papyrus urged while tapping his foot impatiently. He really didn't like people waiting around, especially considering how things were now.

'But my legs hurt, I want to rest somewhere.' Frisk would have let out a whine if she could, and Papyrus swore he did hear her regardless.

"Fine, we'll stop at my place then, it looks far less destroyed and far more inviting from here." Papyrus grunted, the group moving on again. They came to the front door and stood around nervously. Nobody wanted to open the front door and find somebody already living inside.

'Can we go?' Frisk asked. Papyrus gave a nervous shrug, his armour creaking in response.

"Who's brave enough to find out who lives in there now?" Papyrus gave a weak smile, looking to his three comrades.

"It's bound to be safe in there." Nacarat urged, hoping somebody would be brave enough to venture forth. He didn't however account for his optimism to be mistaken for volunteering. Snowdrake snorted as he saw a grin snake its way onto Papyrus' face.

"Good on you Nacarat, see you on the other side." Papyrus' choice of words was poor, but Nacarat let it slide. Taking a nervous gulp to calm himself, he pushed open the door and proceeded inside. The others waited outside for either a call for all clear, or his screams of terror. "So uh… you three holding up ok?"

"I don't know about you smiling bag of bones but I'm a fricking nightmare. I'm always mad and I feel dreadfully ill all the time." Snowdrake retorted. "What about you mister fireman?" Snowdrake asked in mock concern.

'Oh I'm fine, my bar which I put my life and soul into is now a trash heap thanks to whoever released this toxic cloud.' Grillby replied sarcastically.

"Hey who says somebody released it?" Papyrus countered, though he had little confidence in his own words.

"How else could it have gotten around?" Snowdrake asked.

'Think about it, a massive eruption from Asgore's castle can't just be a freak event, it came from something created by somebody, this isn't natural.' Grillby signed in opposition. Frisk wanted to say something but felt anything she said would be ignored. That and the fact she had little idea what they were talking about.

"If somebody created a 'virus' by your words, somebody can cure it right? Why hasn't that happened yet?" Papyrus demanded. The way he sounded was if he was blaming Grillby.

'The only two I can think of who could cure it were too close to the blast to really protect themselves, they're likely infected just like us, or even crazy like the others.' Grillby's head was beginning to crackle in anger.

"Well I doubt those idiot scientists are that stupid as to let a simple virus get to them." Snowdrake jeered.

'Well the lab has a lockdown, maybe they are safe.' Grillby pondered.

"How abou-"

"How about you shut up!" A voice snapped from nearby. Three sets of eyes fell on the old shed, which surprisingly still stood in one piece. Snowdrake however didn't even bother to look, a snort was all that was heard from him. The voice had originated from the shed but once again they were beset with the question of who would go inside to see who spoke. Luckily Grillby easily recognised that voice.

'I swear that sounded an awful lot like Dogaressa if I'm not mistaken." Grillby signed. Papyrus gave a sideways glance to Grillby, praying he was right. He approached the door and pulled it open to find the shed in remarkably good shape. There, near the bars that were supposed to house a human, a figure in a black cloak sat.

The cloak itself, while torn badly, still covered all but their snout as they sat cross legged by the bars. At the sound of intruders, a growl was heard, not from the one in front of the group but from on the other side of the cage. A set of paws grabbed onto the bars and began to shake them violently.

"You lot are so loud." Dogaressa grunted, watching as Dogamy attempted to reach the newcomers. "So, you're not dead yet…" They sniffed the air, refusing to look at the three. "…Papyrus and Grillby… that's actually a surprise. I swear I smell Snowdrake outside but he smells crazy as I. And something else I detect…"

"Are you ok?" Papyrus spoke out, Dogaressa letting out a snivel of amusement.

"Heck no, the love of my life is a savage beast and I will soon be joining them." They snapped, their claws digging into the hard wooden floor.

"You mean you're…" Papyrus didn't need to finish the sentence; everybody knew what he meant.

"Damn straight I am… god why did this have to happen to us." All of a sudden, like somebody flicked a switch, Dogaressa put a paw to their mouth and began to cry silently. "It's not fair, we didn't ask to be monsters, we didn't ask to be able to absorb a human soul, why did the humans have to…" The silent cry became a gentle sob.

"I can understand what it's like to lose somebody you love." Papyrus spoke softly. And not in his usual loud but soft voice, he was actually quiet this time.

"Yes… I didn't smell him on you, but I could smell his coat. Even then he hasn't been around a while. Say, could I ask a favour." Dogaressa asked, finally turning to face them. Their teeth were yellow which, scarily enough, matched the current colour of their eyes. Their pupils however were in the process of going red.

"Depends on the favour." Papyrus shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably. The dog gave a sound of amusement.

"Could you… kill us both?" They pleaded, clasping their hands together. Papyrus almost fell onto his backside from the mere mention of such an act, and yet here they were, asking to die. One of the few dogs in the Royal Guard who didn't manage to get on his nerve.

"I-I… but…" Papyrus stumbled for words, unsure how to respond. Dogaressa let out a sigh.

"I know it's a lot but… I don't want to become one of those things… and seeing my love the same way… it kills me in a different manner." They turned to face away from the group once more, peering into the cells bars at Dogamy.

"I'll… could you two head outside while I talk please?" Papyrus asked. Grillby and Frisk nodded and proceeded to leave the two. Frisk closed the door behind them but as they did, out of the corner of their eye, they saw Papyrus reach for his sword. "I'm sorry…" He mumbled.

Frisk and Grillby sat outside with Snowdrake, listening as the frantic barking became even more frenzied. Then, just like that, a yelp was heard, followed soon by deafening silence. Although Frisk didn't know the two she couldn't hold back from letting her tears roll down her face. She sat down against the wall and curled up into a ball, biting her own hand as she sobbed silently.

"If I'm being honest… I never hated those two actually." Snowdrake muttered. Grillby could offer little comfort to the child, he wasn't good with these kinds of situations. Instead he stood by awkwardly, keeping a watch out for potential dangers. A hushed curse was heard coming from the house as Nacarat stepped outside.

"Oh it's about flipping time jester." Snowdrake grimaced.

"Well hey, at least I finished checking it out. Yeah well it's all clear but boy is it trashed. Hold on, where's… Frisk are you…" Nacarat began to fear the worst until Grillby shook his head. "So Papyrus is…"

"He had to deal with the dog couple, so shut up." Snowdrake murmured.

"Oh… yeah ok." The orange jester crouched to Frisks level and gave her a smile, trying to coax her to come inside. Frisk would have happily stayed outside if it weren't for the chilling winds beginning to pick up again. Without the dogs in the shed the blizzard was returning in full force. With slight reluctance, Frisk picked herself up from the ground and followed Nacarat inside.

"Hey kid, it'll be ok, we're not going to end up like that." Nacarat gave a reassuring smile. As Frisk looked into his eyes it was only now she noticed something… peculiar. All the dogs they had encountered; their eyes were yellow with red pupils. Snowdrake, who is slowly going crazy, had the same coloured eyes. Grillby and Papyrus seemed to be the only ones without red pupils.

"Hey uh Frisk, something the matter?" Nacarat asked, cocking his head to the side. Frisk sat stunned for a moment before shaking her head, deciding to take it up with Papyrus later. For now, she would keep it to herself and follow Nacarat and the others inside. As she stepped indoors however she was hit with an awful smell.

If Frisk could speak she'd probably judge how bad the place looked. The furniture was tossed about; the couch being lodged into the wall with the stuffing strewn about all over the place. The coffee table was in several pieces around the living room, one of which lay under the broken TV, which now rest on the floor. A few books and a pile of ash, real ash not dust, was centred in the room. Somebody had made a fire it seemed.

The kitchen was an equal mess. Many of the cupboard doors where either hanging off their hinges or had been torn off, laying in a pile on the floor. The fridge had been tipped over with rotten, disgusting food squashed underneath. A few of the stickier food items had been splattered against the wall, clinging on for dear life.

"Well… welcome to the skelebro house." Nacarat announced half-heartedly. He let out a nervous cough and spoke up again. "Hope it's not a worry but I couldn't get into Sans' room, it was blocked with stuff from the other side." Grillby lit up immensely out of fear, his colour shifting to a purple tint.

'You can't invite us in without checking the room!' Grillby exclaimed, despite Nacarats inability to read hands.

"Ok I have no idea what you said, but I shall take offence. Dude I have no arms; I don't really have enough strength." Nacarat tried to counter. Grillby let out an irritated sigh and ran his hand down his face in annoyance. He marched over to Sans' door and tried to open it. When that failed he began to push against it with all his might.

"You're not the smartest are you? You could have told us when you came outside." Snowdrake snapped.

"Well sorry, it didn't cross my mind, I was sure it would be ok." Nacarat defended.

"That's your problem you're too positive. Also Grillby wants you." Snowdrake gestured his head to Grillby.

'Little help?' He asked, waving Nacarat over to help. They both pushed against the door when it began to shift.

"We're getting through!" Nacarat beamed, the final shove letting both tumble into the room. Frisk ran in after them to check if they were ok to find both had simply fallen onto a now broken treadmill. "Ow… darn it. See, emp-" Naracats words froze in his throat as he saw a pile of dust laying before the duo. "No…"

"What's going on up there?" Snowdrake called. Frisk looked to see the pile of dust that Nacarat seemed so focused on. She didn't notice much out of the ordinary other than a green striped scarf wrapped around it. Nacarat struggled over to the spot and got up onto his knees.

'Dust in here, Nacarat seems interested.' Frisk signed down to Snowdrake. He shifted between his feet uncomfortably and let out a hiss.

"Don't be her…" He whispered to himself. Frisk turned back to Nacarat who was kneeling in front of the dust.

"No this is not saying that she… I mean she had to have gotten somewhere safe. Somebody else just… took her scarf I mean and… and…" Nacarat couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. Frisk had no idea who he meant but whoever she was, she must have been important to Nacarat, and judging by Snowdrakes comment she was real close.

'Come on kid, seems everybody needs some alone time being back here.' Grillby urged, pulling Frisk out of the room rather quickly. The second they shut the door Nacarats whines were heard inside. Frisk followed Grillby back to the living room downstairs and sat on the floor where the couch most likely once sat.

"Jesus it wasn't… her up there was it?" Snowdrake asked with a hint of sadness. Grillby gave a nod as Snowdrake sighed. "I'm going to… scout around the town. I can defend myself, you guys just… wait here. I'll be back." Snowdrake said solemnly. Despite his constant mad state whoever that was in there really seemed to affect him deeply. Slowly Snowdrake made his way outside and left the two alone.

Frisk knew Grillby wanted to go and see his old place but he couldn't leave Frisk alone, nor could he bring her with him out in the cold again. She felt a little guilty but Grillby truly didn't mind. This was the first of hope that they could get out of this mess alive in months. Grillby was sure everybody was going to give it their all now that they had a chance.

'Do you know if anybody else is alive out there?' Frisk asked the fire in a suit. He looked down at her small form a moment before shrugging.

'I can't know for certain if they're alive or crazy, but I've heard Undyne is still around, and judging from her spears in my bar I'd say she is. Though I'm almost certain she's gone mad. Alphys probably locked herself in her lab if she was lucky, if she calls a lockdown nothing can get in or out. The king… nobody has seen him in a while…' Grillby sat in silence for a few moments. Frisk was about to talk when he continued.

'I know people saw Mettaton around, but there are some stories that he was scrapped, people found parts of him strewn around the junkyard. It's a shame too, he probably was our best hope if we wanted to eradicate all the crazies.' Grillby shuddered at his own dark thoughts.

The silence stretched on uncomfortably for several long, antagonising minutes. Frisk was getting uncomfortable already and wanted to get up and move. Luckily Nacarat come out from Sans' room, shuffling down the stairs to greet the trio.

"H-hey… I uh… I'm fine really just… hard to get over the death of somebody you grew up with." Nacarat made a shrugging gesture. Frisk noticed he was now wearing the scarf. "Though there is one thing I wish to learn when we have the chance… I want to learn how to read hands, because well, I won't always have Papyrus around to translate for me." He finished, but soon changed his wording to the last sentence.

"W-well he won't always be around, not because he's going to die, he's the toughest of us all right now, he just might get separated o-or… need alone time like now." He chuckled nervously.

'We'll teach him once Papyrus gets himself together.' Grillby told Frisk, who nodded quickly.

"You know there's something else I need to learn too. I've already manifested so… I should really learn how to use my magic offensively, which really is a must these days. That way I'm not just standing around uselessly."

'He's not the only one who needs to learn.' Frisk pointed out to Grillby. The man of fire rubbed his chin in thought.

'You are right; Papyrus did explain to us while we were walking that you can seem to use magic of some sort. I could teach you at least right now.' Grillby shrugged, catching Frisk by surprise. Her eyes widened as she signed too fast for even herself to comprehend.

'You're kidding, that stuff burns, I can't use that again.' She rubbed her arms in remembrance of the events that took place a few hours earlier.

'It burns less the more control you have over it and if you have a vessel. Also you did use a blue attack from your shoulders down. You just needed to keep your arms moving.' Grillby looked almost amused, flailing his arms frantically as a mock example.

"Are you guys talking about Frisks magic?" Nacarat asked, shuffling nervously from foot to foot. Grillby just nodded to confirm his question. "Oh cool… yeah ok, just checking."

'So can all monsters use the same magic?' Frisk asked of Grillby.

'Not quite. All monsters have a greater understanding of magic than humans but they cannot all use the same magic. Some use simple everyday magic, others use more complex attacks such as blue or orange. Some monsters are so powerful they can manipulate your soul itself.' Grillby paused to see if Frisk was following before continuing.

'Blue attacks harm you if you move, orange harms you if you are not moving. If monsters use blue soul manipulation on you they can affect your gravity, if they use green they can hold you in place, there's even some other interesting ones more rarely used. Yellow actually allows you to fire bolts of energy at your attacker while purple restricts your movement to only allow you to move up and down in three lanes.' Grillby once again checked if Frisk was understanding.

'Though only Muffet has used the purple soul influence and only Alphys knows how to employ the yellow effect. Papyrus and Sans have both used blue manipulation and Undyne is an avid user of green. Though there are probably others out there who can get a basic understanding of blue and green.' Grillby finally finished his onslaught of information.

'Papyrus used green on me before I think. But what exactly is soul manipulation?' Frisk asked, rather confused understandably.

'Your soul is your very being, the culmination of what you are. If you die your soul can persist after death and you can be revived with certain magics. Monsters souls shatter almost instantly while boss monsters can last even longer. If we had Papyrus in here he could show you your soul.' Grillby looked to the door almost as if Papyrus would step through the door at the mention of his name.

'Oh I didn't answer your question did I?' He asked amused, watching as Frisk shook her head. 'Well then soul manipulation is when a monster imbues your soul with a certain power, able to manipulate it to their whim. Usually your soul will have a noticeable colour change to it as well.'

'What colour is my soul normally?' Frisk asked. Grillby rubbed his chin in thought.

'I cannot know for certain, but by guessing alone I'd go with kindness, so green.' Frisk cocked her head at his deduction so he felt the need to explain himself yet again. 'Well your soul is dominated by a key trait that is its makeup. There's blue integrity, cyan patience, green kindness, yellow justice, orange bravery, purple perseverance and red determination.'

'Determination? That's like stubbornness right? Because everybody would say I was too stubborn to give up.' Frisk announced.

'Well that stubbornness could have been Determination instead, or more likely Perseverance. Without Papyrus we can't check for certain, not all monsters can grasp the power of pulling ones soul out from their body.' Grillby explained, looking back over at the entrance door.

"Look uh… I know he's not at his best but… I'm just going to see if Papyrus will come back in you know, teach us some magic." Nacarat told the duo on the floor, making his way to the door and somehow opening it. Frisk couldn't see how from her angle but he closed it behind him.

'How did he-' Frisk began.

'No idea, let's go with weird door opening magic. He lied about not being able to open Sans' door from lack of hands I see.' Grillby pointed out Naracat's earlier statement.

'But he didn't say he couldn't open it due to lack of arms, just lack of strength.' Frisk countered, catching Grillby off guard.

'Huh… you're right, sorry kid wasn't paying full attention.' Grillby admitted, laying back against the wall.

'You're warm but… you don't burn things, why?' Frisk questioned, poking Grillbys hand and not feeling any much hotter than the sun on her skin.

'Magic…' Grillby shrugged, not really coming up with a proper answer for the curious child.

'So what other kinds of magic are there?' Frisk asked. Grillby sighed and looked to be almost happy.

'Well there's five classes of magic actually. There's attack, defence, control, healing and special magic. The classes are named Reinforcer, Protector, Manipulator, Medic and Specialist respectively. A monster will focus their training on one class usually, mastering it around adulthood.' Grillby explained.

'Can a monster master more than one class?' Frisk asked curiously. Grillby nodded.

'Oh yes, though it is difficult. You see imagine a pentagon. At each point is a class. In clockwise order from the top it goes Reinforcer, Protector, Manipulator, Medic and Specialist. So when you master a class its two adjacent classes are easier to learn than those on the other end of the pentagon. Mind you it still doesn't make it easy, just easier.' Grillby explained.

'So if a monster mastered the Protector class they could then go on to learn Reinforcer or Manipulator magic as well, moving on to the next and the next until you master all five. If you have mastered all five classes you end up having a very powerful soul, becoming a boss monster.' Grillby continued.

'A Reinforcer focuses heavily on magic that will deal direct damage to their opponent as you may guess. A Protector may have attacks that either shield them from damage or help shield their allies. A Manipulator has better control of their environment, able to bend reality itself or have more control over souls. A Medic will, as the name suggests, heal their allies or themselves as others take on the attacking role. Lastly a Specialist uses magic types that don't fit equally into the other four categories.' Grillby looked to see if Frisk was still following.

'I think I understand, could you give examples of monsters who focus on a class?' Frisk asked.

'Some examples of monsters who use certain classes are as follows. Undyne is a Reinforcer, Papyrus is a Protector, Sans is a Manipulator, Toriel is a Medic and Muffet is a Specilist.' Grillby halted when he realised what he was saying. 'Of course you wouldn't know these people. Hold on… most of the monsters you have encountered thus far are Reinforcers, while Papyrus is actually a Protector who is adept at the Reinforcer tree. Nacarat hasn't chosen his path yet so he still has free reign.'

'Could I choose a path?' Frisk asked curiously.

'Oh most likely, I'm sure the pentagon still exists for human magic as well. At such a young age it will be extremely difficult but you will probably finish mastering the class before most human mages would. Do you have a clear idea what kind of magic you wish to use?' Grillby questioned.

'Not exactly no.' Frisk admitted.

'Well I advise not starting with Manipulator or Specialist, around ninety percent of all monsters avoid those as their first as they are painfully difficult to learn. Maybe a Medic, Reinforcer or Protector to start off.' Grillby recommended.

'Yeah ok, sounds reasonable.' Frisk agreed. A hushed conversation was heard just outside as Papyrus opened the door.

"-o I have to?" Papyrus muttered.

"Because I don't speak hands so Grillby can't teach me." Nacarat moaned.

"Well he could teach Frisk, that's top priority right?" Papyrus practically slammed the door behind him. "So you want to learn magic huh?" Papyrus asked.

'I taught her how basic attacks and souls work, as well as the five classes of magic.' Grillby relayed to him.

"Good, let's see the sucker." Papyrus clenched his fist as Frisk felt a cold icy grip in her chest. A heart like shape emerged from her chest, red in colour and pulsing brightly. "Ah, Determination… this one's a tough one then." Papyrus admired. He seemed oddly fascinated in her soul colour.

'So how's the blue soul change work?' Frisk asked. Papyrus gave a smirk and clicked his fingers.

"Like this." Her soul came crashing to the ground, in turn Frisk felt herself hit the floor. "Don't worry I'll give your soul back." Papyrus waved his hand as Frisk's soul returned to her body and the gravity weakened. "Go on try jump."

'Uh ok.' Frisk signed uneasy. They attempted to jump and found themselves propelled into the air.

"Nyeh, fun isn't it? For some reason it increases your weight and also your jump height. But it does become harder to move, and I could throw you into the wall affecting your gravity… but I won't." Papyrus shrugged, letting the effect run dry when Frisk had landed. "So you wish to use magic then human?" He asked.

'Yes, it would be useful don't you agree?' She nodded, putting a smirk on Papyrus' face.

"Yeah well kid, it ain't that simple. For humans they need a vessel, something to channel their magic through, something close to you in some way." Papyrus looked down at Frisk, noticing the lack of anything on her.

'I don't have a lot on me.' She out turned her pockets as proof, making for a very irritated Papyrus.

"Well unless you want searing pain running through your body every time you use it than go without, see if I care." Papyrus crossed his arms.

"Hey man come on lay off, she's just a kid who fell down, they never have a lot on them." Nacarat defended. Papyrus really wanted to have a go at him, but knew better than to do so.

"You know what, fine, whatever. Just… find something on you." Papyrus scoffed, turning away in frustration. Frisk pat down her own body before resting a hand on her bow on her head.

"Hey Paps, would her bow work?" Nacarat asked.

"Doubtful, but to hell with it, try anyway. Focus your magic into it, see if it accepts or rejects it." Papyrus suggested. Frisk nodded nervously and tried her best to concentrate. After a few moments her hands felt a searing pain, as if somebody were stabbing her with a knife.

"Ok maybe not the bow." Nacarat hissed.

"You think?" Papyrus rolled his eyes, which Frisk didn't understand how she knew he did, as he came over to her. "Didn't you have a stick somewhere?" Papyrus asked.

'Oh that.' Frisk pulled it out from where it was lodged in the back of her pants, which was getting rather uncomfortable. 'It's very small now cos I broke it by accident.' She shrugged, noticing it wasn't much longer then her forearm.

"Try it, it could be like a wand." Nacarat proposed. Frisk once again began to concentrate, putting all her thoughts into the stick. Before she could even comprehend what was happening the searing pain ran through her body again, forcing her to drop the stick.

"What do you know, her magic doesn't accept a stick." Papyrus frowned. "We kind of saw that coming though didn't we?" Papyrus shrugged.

"Well hey you don't have a vessel kid, but you could still try some magic if you're up for it." Nacarat urged.

'Hold on now Frisk, you have to focus your energy through your hands.' Grillby explained from the sidelines.

"He's right, for humans magic is all about focus. Monsters don't need to as much as we're practically made of the stuff. So try concentrate." Papyrus agreed. Frisk nodded her head and pointed her hand to where the TV used to sit. She took a deep breath and began to focus.

'Good…' Grillby signed, despite Frisk being unable to see his actions.

"Ok… now will an attack into existence." Papyrus muttered. At his words a beam of green shot out of her hand, surprising Papyrus. Frisk shook her hand and clutched it in her palm, blowing on it. "What the hell was that?" He demanded.

'I… I don't know you wanted me to attack…' Frisk signed unsure of herself. Had she done something wrong?

"You used a green attack? You use that on our enemies you're just going to heal them." Papyrus huffed rather angrily.

'I'm sorry I don't understand magic.' Frisk signed rather meekly.

"Hey lay off the kid a bit man, she's a learner, a human learner at that, she'll improve. Also she doesn't yet have a vessel so control is limited." Nacarat defended, boosting Frisk's confidence a bit. Papyrus let his anger bubble away before taking a few breaths to calm himself.

"Ok ok… fine, whatever." Papyrus admitted defeat, throwing his hands into the air. "I guess you want help too Nac?" Papyrus asked annoyed.

"Well yeah, I need to learn to." He pointed out.

"Just look and shoot, for beginners it's just like humans, you need a bit of focus." Papyrus shrugged, watching as Nacarat positioned himself to fire where Frisk had previously attacked. After several silent minutes Papyrus became irritated, stomping his foot impatiently.

"God damn it just-" Papyrus' shout was interrupted by a white mask flying into the wall, exploding into a cloud of smoke. The wall had a large crack in it where the mask had made impact. Nobody had quite expected that attack, leaving most everyone at a loss for words.

"Whoa… that was intense." Nacarat breathed, a smile ever present on his face.

'You basically fired your face at the wall.' Frisk pointed out amused. Simply Frisk's smiling face put a bigger one on Nacarat's own.

"Good you learnt magic, I'm done here right?" Papyrus asked.

'Wait that's it?' Frisk asked confused.

"Well uh yeah kind of. You learnt your basics so my job is done right?" Nacarat shook his head in response, Papyrus running a hand down his face irritated for the hundredth time that day.

"I need you to teach me how to speak in hands so I don't have to rely on you." Nacarat explained to Papyrus. He practically ground his teeth as he thought it over, clearly unhappy at the lack of Nacarats abilities to do… anything it seemed.

"Fine, I'll teach you in my room, one on one. You two stay out here." Papyrus practically dragged Nacarat into his room, slamming the door behind him. A few quick heated words were tossed about, none of which Frisk could hear clearly, before the deathly silence hung over her again.

'Well that was quick… I thought learning how to control magic would be difficult.' Frisk let out a breath with a slight smile.

'Oh that wasn't control, you just shot a random beam, we'll see in due time if you can actually control it, make it take shape and form.' Grillby responded with a huff. 'When you get a vessel it becomes a little trickier.' He continued to lay back in deep thought, catching Frisk's attention.

'What are you thinking about?' Frisk asked curiously, looking him over. Grillby adjusted how he was sitting and gave her a long hard stare.

'It's not something I can discuss with you openly.' Grillby responded rather coldly for a man made of fire. 'Sorry, didn't mean to… nevermind. I'm a little surprised Papyrus didn't question Snowdrakes absence this time.' Grillby seemed to zone out from the world, ignoring any further attempts at communication by Frisk. Annoyed she stamped her foot on the ground and decided to have a look around quickly.

There wasn't really anything left to see now, she'd seen everything when she came in. There was the kitchen, the bedrooms, the living rooms… there didn't seem to be a bathroom. Maybe skeletons just didn't need one. She decided to head back into Sans' room at least, have a look around in there.

She cautiously opened the door, peeking around inside to see the dust pile still sitting there, untouched, but the scarf seemed to be absent. Of course it would be, Nacarat did take it after all. Frisk didn't take too much notice and just looked around.

There was a treadmill in the middle of the room, still broken from when Grillby and Nacarat fell onto it. There was also piles of garbage strewn everywhere, a drawer and messy bed was all the room had for furniture. It was very minimalistic for sure. With little to look for she headed for the drawer and looked around inside.

There were a few things, a large key being prominent. Pocketing the key, she rummaged around further. Underneath a lone sock was a note of some kind, written hastily. She pulled it out and tried to flatten it out, trying her best to read it.

'Bro, if you're reading this you must have left the ruins. Sorry to say, unless there's a human involved that's a stupid thing to do. Anyway thing is, I left for something important, but I can't tell you. I know how selfish of me, but it's for your safety, seriously. Just stay safe and stay out of the basement, toss away my key too, throw it over the cliffs or something.' Frisk saw a small arrow on the bottom so flipped over the page to find more.

'So… you're not my brother reading this then, my bro never thinks to flip over the note. So it seems you've found my note, and in turn my key. If that's the case, you mustn't be crazy like the rest. You might even be a human. If you're human, go into the basement, there's something for you there. It has an entrance outside around the back. Sans.' Frisk pulled the key back out, looking over it carefully.

It seemed like a normal key to her at least, so shoving it back into her pocket she made her way out of the room. Grillby seemed to be sleeping, at least that's what it sounded like, as Frisk snuck past him. Without any visible reaction she had to assume she was right. Quickly she opened the door, slipped through, and closed it again.

The wind was mad outside, nearly throwing her off her feet. She began to trudge through the snow, trying her best not to give in and head back inside. She found her way around back and nearly tripped over a trap door half buried in the snow. She pulled out the key and unlocked it, opening it up and sneaking down the stairs, shutting it above her. Then she heard a scuttling down the hallway, the pitch black hall where she could not see a thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry if anything is wrong with this chapter. Being as long as it is it was hard to make sure it was 100% ok! I went through this chapter so many times, it was re-written and revised just as many, it was just crazy. Also if you guys are wondering about the pentagon of magic that was NOT made by me. That was by a friend of mine who goes by the name LostGod, who put it in their story Saving Them. See them here: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3766439/  
> I have permission to use it and really hope to expand it a bit more myself!


	4. Conjunction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk finds herself locked in a basement and must find out what lays below...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has taken a lot of my time and effort to try and get right. Like I have tried to hard to get it to fit and even now I feel it could use a lot of work, but I have put it off long enough. There has been a lot of interest around this chapter, moreso on DA as I have withheld information on it and kept saying "Wait for Chapter 3" for a lot of info. Now you shall see why. And so begins her journey into the basement. Damn that sounded less creepy in my head.

Frisk felt a chill go up their spine, and not from the cold either. In fact, the deeper she crept down the dark hall the warmer it got, which was the only thing keeping her going forward. She saw a thin strip of light on the ground, approaching eagerly. However, she hit something hard in front of her, clutching her head in pain.

She put her hand out in front of her, feeling a hard metal surface. It must have been a door, the thin strip of light shining underneath the door. She looked for a handle only to come up empty. That can’t be right, a door without a handle. This couldn’t be right could it?

Perplexed she tried to squint, adjust her eyes to the dark, see better. However even after a few minutes in the pitch black dark her eyes would not adjust. Annoyed, she continued to feel around until she paused.

Of course! A door doesn’t have to have a handle, it’s not a necessity. Well it’s preferred but that’s not the point. She snapped her fingers as she began remembering the puzzles in the ruins. They always had levers or switches elsewhere in the room.

She began feeling around the walls looking for a lever to flick to allow access. Instead her hand brushed against something cold and metallic, the contraption lighting up at her touch. Well it certainly wasn’t a lever. It was a keypad of some sort, nine numbered keys, a red button and a green button. 

So it was some sort of digit code, and she’d have to type in a few numbers to get the answer. That seemed simple enough except for one problem. Frisk was stumped, she couldn’t figure out what the code was, there was no way. There weren’t any clues like in the Ruins.

Not wanting to punch in random numbers and risk the consequences, she thought it over carefully. She stared intently at the numbers, hoping to find the answer through simply spotting something out of place. Alas this yielded no results.

She put in a number by mistake while feeling the numbers. A single number displayed on the screen, and judging from the size of it she could determine how many numbers she’d need. Looking carefully she concluded she’d at least need four numbers. Simple enough right? Wrong.

She racked her brain for answers. It had to be easy right, Papyrus said his brother was lazy back in the cave. She took a gamble and punched in the numbers 1234. A loud buzz was heard to signal her failure, a clicking sound following soon. A series of three yellow lights appeared above the door, one of which switched to red. 

That couldn’t be good, red was always a bad sign. She bit her lip and felt her body shiver involuntarily at the thought of what could happen if she got it all wrong. She jumped in surprise when a laid back voice spoke over some speakers.

“Hello, I’m your host and the answer, Sans the skeleton. So you’re trying to hack into my lab huh? Wow, good luck with that bucko it’s quite the tricky passcode. Look, I would give you a hint but… that would be cheating, considering I already did.” A buzz was heard again to signal the end of the message.

Fearing for her life she decided to think it over a bit more. Think lazy, she kept telling herself. What would he do to make it easy for him to remember yet not too obvious. What was it he said? He already gave her a hint? She didn’t register any hint?

She kept thinking, maybe there was something she missed? She thought his words over in her mind, playing it back a few times. As she tried to think it struck her. Grinning, she punched in four numbers quickly. 7267.

“Wow, great job Frisk, you did well.” Sans chuckled as the door buzzed open. Frisk stood in absolute shock. How did Sans know her name, that couldn’t be possible could it? They had not met prior, nor was there any way for him to have gotten word of her already.

Papyrus has no idea where he is so he’s out of the question, she doubted the others would hide such important information from them either. She decided to try figure it out later. Once again fearing for her own life she snuck into the lab, being hit with an instant wave of comforting heat. It was a nice change from the snow outside.

The room was pristine and white, looking completely different from the destruction up above. The room was small and contained very little within its walls. There was a desk with a bunch of drawers, a strange machine under a curtain with pink flowers on it and a small chest with a huge lock on it. She shrugged off Sans’ jumper and lay it on the floor by the door.

“So kid, enjoy the heat while you can, you’re almost out of Snowdin and into Waterfall. Yeah… Asgore was always bad with names. Look uh you can skim around if you want just be careful, there’s a lot here that could kill you in a heartbeat if you so much as breath on it incorrectly.” He had to be kidding right? Sans let out a snort of amusement.

“Lighten up Frisk, I’m just messing with you. Now your vessel should be around here somewhere, dunno if it would still be in the same place so just start looking around I guess, you’ll find it. Oh also, I should mention, these are indeed automated messages, so don’t try talking back ok? Well… not that you could… considering you’re mute.” The message finally ended leaving Frisk with more questions than answers. 

She really wanted to know how he could know so much about what was going on. How could he possibly even known about the vessel so quickly that he could leave pre-recorded messages minutes later? Deciding to follow the skeletons instructions she began to look around, heading right for the drawers. 

She saw a blueprint on the table which caught her interest. Grabbing it she looked it over, seeing what resembled some sort of goat skull with a bunch of weird letters written on it. She couldn’t read any of it though; it did look familiar somehow. In some way however, through means she couldn’t understand, she could read the top line. She read it aloud. Well in her head, she couldn’t really speak.

‘Gaster Blaster V 2.4?’ She read confused. She didn’t bother to try figure it out though, just placed the blueprint back down and opened a drawer. The first was filled with random tools that Frisk didn’t understand. The didn’t look scientific but in fact medical. Deciding to leave them alone she opened the next drawer.

The next was filled with a bunch of needles with tape labels with Determination on them. So, in other words, just more medical junk. Was Sans a doctor perhaps? Maybe a nurse? It didn’t matter, there was still another drawer. The second last drawer contained a badge and a file. The file caught her interest first.

‘Agent Sans.’ It read, a massive red classified stamped across the front of it. Curious she opened up the file to find a single page. Reading it over carefully to make sure she didn’t skip over anything, she tried to understand it as best she could.

‘Agent Sans. Age: Unknown. Power: 7/10. Special Attributes: Light Memory Preservation, Teleportation, Blue Soul Manipulation, Multiple Timeline Knowledgetion.’ Frisk cocked an eyebrow, noticing the ‘tion’ on the end was scribbled on with a pencil. She continued on with the description.

‘Sans is an interesting agent, his level of power seems to eclipse many, but is not at its full potential. Clearly he would be able to hone his abilities better if he focused more on training then taking care of his brother. I can still defeat him quite easily however, even with a blindfold. One day he may land a hit against me. –M’ A single letter M was used as the signature. 

Feeling she had done enough reading she placed the file back into the desk. Her attention was brought back to the badge that resided inside. She took it out and studied it. It was a shield shape, golden in colour with a black insignia. It was like… a circle with wings and a few triangles. For reasons unknown she pocketed the badge and closed the drawer.

The other drawer didn’t seem to contain anything of interest, just pure junk this time. Disappointed she closed the last drawer a little too roughly. She decided to approach the large curtain covering what she could only guess was a machine. What it was she couldn’t tell. Ripping the curtain away a large device of some kind stood before her. Attached to the side was a glass tube large enough for a human yet contained nothing but a single, yellow, flower petal.

She couldn’t easily describe the machine, it just seemed… odd. It was somewhat cylindrical in shape but it wasn’t perfect, almost a big wonky. There was a large seam of some kind running down the middle and several tubes going from the top of the machine and into the wall behind it. Beside the device was a panel with a large multitude of buttons.

A flashing red button caught her attention, the word ‘Morph’ written on tape was stuck to it. Curious and naïve, she pressed the button. The machine whirred to life, crackling with energy. The glass tube began to bubble and boil. Suddenly the middle of the machine opened up and a few clawed hands emerged and grabbed onto Frisk.

“Kid you did not do what I think you did, did you?” The automated message asked as Frisk was dragged, very much against her will, into the machine. The machine closed up again as the liquid from the other tube began to fill the small area she was in. Scared for her life she began to struggle and squirm, attempting to escape. The goo kept rising, reaching her knees, then her waist, then her chest, finally flowing over her head.

Frisk tried to hold her breath but her panic forced her to take a few quick gulps. To her utter surprise she didn’t feel like she was drowning. It felt like she was drinking gooey air of some kind as it bubbled around her. Eventually the clawed hands retreated into the machine through compartments that lined the sides of her metallic prison.

“Ok kid now that the process is done I need you to relax. The liquid is… well I don’t know how to explain it exactly in words you’ll understand but… it does have liquid oxygen in it to answer how you can drink it. So uh… just enjoy the ride, you’re going to come out in… well an interesting way.” Sans’ message shut off again, leaving Frisk to float in place.

As she did however she felt something stinging in her back. Reaching around to touch it she felt a nub just under her shoulder blade. Though, as she touched it, she noticed it was growing. Without warning it suddenly burst out from her skin, sending searing pain throughout her back. She tried to let out a scream but no sound emerged from her.

Tentatively, she reached back around to touch what had emerged from her back. Beneath her shirt she felt it moving, coming up through the top and flowing over her shoulder. She was now able to feel it properly, and to her surprise it felt like a plant of some kind. Pulling it forwards to hold it out in front of her she saw something she never suspected.

There was a stem and on the end of it were six tiny yellow petals, growing slowly outwards. She watched in equal curiosity and dread as it grew, waiting to see what would happen next. When it seemingly stopped growing Frisk finally let go of it. So a flower grew out of her back, but why? The liquid very quickly drained from the machine and Frisk felt oddly dry.

“Ok kid, the process should be done now just… uh don’t freak out about what happens in 3,2,1…”

“What the hell?!” A small voice squeaked beside her ear. She turned so quickly she swore her neck clicked. When she saw the flower before her she let out a silent scream. On it, an equally fearful face had emerged as it screamed, and unlike Frisk is was far from silent. She cupped her hands over her ears and cringed. The machine opened back up as Frisk scrambled out, falling onto her knees on the white floor.

“Evening Flowey. It uh… seems Frisk here activated the machine to bring you back to life. In doing so you have been merged with her body and… well frankly this was not supposed to happen. Now before you begin screaming insults my way this is actually a pre-recorded message, just in case this event happened to take place, which it just so happened to. Lucky me, I didn’t do it for nothing.” Sans cleared his throat as the message continued.

“So your new task is to keep this kid here alive because if she dies, you die also, understand? I know it sucks but hey, I didn’t ask the kid to do it. Anyway protect this kid with your life and if Papyrus is with them, keep him alive to or you die. Fun fact, you can die while Frisk lives on.” Sans chuckled.

“That is such bullsh-uh I mean crap!” Flowey corrected himself once he realised he was still in the presence of a child. Frisk took note of what Sans had said. If she died the flower did too, but if it died she didn’t. That did seem unfair…

“Yeah watch that mouth of yours petals. Anyway I think I got everything down right? You’re protecting the kid, stay alive, don’t die… yeah I’d say that’s about it. Now seeing as the kid is trying to get to the capitol to acquire the human souls for whoever they’re with to escape, I should inform you. Now that you are merged with them you can escape only if you remain merged, you don’t need a human soul to escape. Enjoy feeling love again!” The message finally cut out.

“W-wait what? Sans you bas-idiot! You can’t just leave it at that! What do you mean enjoy feeling love again? I can’t ju-ohhh… wait I understand, thanks bone bags.” Flowey grumbled.

‘What on earth is he rambling about?’ Frisk thought to herself. Flowey perked up and moved around to be in front of her. It felt weird though as she could feel him moving his stem out from under her shoulder blade.

“Well now that’s a curious thing… I can hear your thoughts.” Flowey smiled mischievously. “So uh… Frisk was it? Give us the info, what’s going on?” Flowey demanded. Frisk decided not to question the whole mind reading thing and just gave him what he wanted.

‘Well uh… Papyrus, Grillby, Nacarat, Snowdrake and I are heading to the capitol to escape. We’re in Sans’ lab now as you may tell. I was meant to be looking for a vessel to-‘ Frisk was interrupted by Flowey.

“Oh right the vessel! Yes, I remember now! Sans said he would store a vessel down here once for somebody, you must be who he was referring to. It’s in that chest over there.” Flowey explained, cocking his head over in the direction of the chest.

‘But it’s locked.’ Frisk told him.

“Pfft what, that lock? Childs play.” Flowey grinned. Frisk got up from her kneeled position and approached the lock, waiting to watch what Flowey would do. “This is going to be cool for you I guess.” A few white pellets formed before them, shooting right for the lock. It cracked easily under the assault, the lock falling from the chest.

‘Wow, that was cool.’ Frisk admitted with a smile, crouching down to the chest and opening it up.

“You are very welcome.” Flowey looked down into the chest and let out a sigh. “Ah, Chara’s old heart locket, I’m assuming that’s going to be your vessel.” Flowey noted, Frisk picking it up as he spoke. It was a half a golden locket in the shape of a heart with a tiny keyhole on it, though the keyhole was clearly fake. Frisk unclasped it and put it around her neck.

Frisk felt a very warm feeling where the locket lay and she swore it was pulsing. The warmth increased as Frisk felt a lot of energy being drawn from her body and into the locket. Frisk had to lean against a wall to keep herself upright.

“It’s very draining yes, just hold on a minute, your vessel is just being accepted is all.” Flowey explained to the exhausted child. She slid down the wall as the drain seemed to subside. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. “Try shoot a bit of magic, see if it worked.” Flowey urged. 

Frisk seemed hesitant at first, she remembered how Papyrus got mad at her for shooting a green attack before, what if this flower did the same? Frisk took a nervous gulp and held out her hand when suddenly, in a second, a white beam of light shot outwards.

‘What the heck?’ Frisk practically shrieked into Flowey’s mind.

“Ow hey watch it. And holy crud, that was some intense magic build-up. You seem to be quite adept at magic, or maybe you’ve just got a strong magical bloodline. In any case just be careful not to go shooting magic randomly. It is summoned by your mere thoughts, try control it.” Flowey explained. Just instructions she’d heard before.

“Yeah listen to the flower.” Sans agreed, Flowey letting out a growl.

“Sans I swear I know you’re watching over and speaking into the microphone wherever you are.” Flowey cried out.

“No I’m not.” Sans chuckled as the transmission cut off again.

“Ugh what sucks is he’s actually right, he’s just got some crazy foresight or something.” Flowey grumbled. Flowey unknowingly answered a few of Frisk’s questions. It’d explain how he knew so much about her, foresight must be a neat trick. Frisk finally got up from the floor and had another look around. Finding nothing else of interest another recording played.

“So uh Frisk, I don’t think there’s anything left to see here. So… you might want to go back upstairs before anybody misses you. They might be getting suspicious. Just uhm… try not pick on Papyrus ok? Or I’ll have a bone to pick with you.” Frisk swore she could hear Sans winking through the audio message.

“Ugh, that skeleton and his puns. Come on, he’s right, the others will be freaking out if you’ve been down here too long.” Flowey urged. Frisk nodded and made her way for the exit, grabbing the jacket and putting it back on. Just before they left Flowey let out a huff. “You know, you are taking this far too well.” Flowey pointed out.

‘Guess this place has freaked me out enough for one day.’ Frisk shrugged, reaching for the door to leave.

“Huh kid, you haven’t seen nothing yet.” Flowey chuckled as the blizzard hit them. “Holy crap that’s cold.” He shivered. Frisk didn’t bother to ask why he could feel the cold, just because he was a flower didn’t mean he couldn’t feel anything.

‘So what exactly are your powers?’ Frisk did ask.

“Well I can shoot those pellets, I can make vines emerge from the ground, but that’s about it.” Flowey explained. A small vine shot up suddenly beside Frisk, almost startling her. “Ok yeah just checking I still could.”

“I swear Grillby you are useless sometimes!” Papyrus screeched. Frisk and Flowey exchanged a worried look as Frisk made a dash for the door. Flowey ducked behind her as she practically kicked the door open, slamming it shut behind her. “Frisk! Where have you been?” Papyrus demanded rather harshly.

‘I was in your brothers lab.’ Frisk signed nervously.

“Could you at least come up with a better lie, that’s over in Hotland.” Papyrus rolled his… eyes? Frisk still couldn’t understand it.

“Uh buddy… she’s telling the truth.” Flowey spoke up, emerging from behind Frisk.

“As-Flowey?” Papyrus stuttered, looking on in disbelief.

“Yeah uh… funny story. You see I was dead, again, and Frisk… well… turn around Frisk.” She did as she was told, showing her back to the group. “Remove the jacket and lift your shirt.” Frisk felt very unsure about doing that but did so anyway. She lay the jacket on the ground and lifted her shirt to reveal her back, Flowey growing out from her shoulder.

That was not all however. As they saw the vine growing from her shoulder they noticed the large multitude of scars and markings along her back. They looked old, possibly years old. Nobody in the room said anything, they all exchanged a few nervous glances and all silently agreed not to ask.

“Holy… you’re… merged?” Papyrus asked in utter shock.

“Apparently… it was your brothers experiment. It brought me back to life through merging with Frisk. Funny thing Paps… I can feel again.” Flowey smiled, Frisk putting the blue jumper back onto her body.

“You… you can feel?” Papyrus grinned from ear to ear. He dashed over to Frisk and kneeled quickly. “You’re… back to what you were before?”

“Minus the fact I’m still a flower, yeah buddy. I can actually feel again.” Flowey smiled softly. Papyrus put a gentle finger onto his face, wiping Flowey’s tear away.

“It’s been a while since you could, just… let it out buddy.” Papyrus urged. As Frisk stood awkwardly she could hear Flowey crying softly into her hood, letting out a few tears. “In case the three of you didn’t realise, before Flowey was merged here, he couldn’t feel a thing, it’s been a while and well… he’s got a lot of suppressed feelings right now.” Papyrus told the others a little too rudely.

“Papyrus please, don’t say that.” Flowey chuckled softly, regaining his composure. He wiped his eyes against the fluff of the hood to dry his eyes and gave an uneasy smile. “So what’s the plan, just sit tight for now?”

“We’re resting yes, but soon they will regain their energy and set forth once more.” Papyrus announced somewhat proudly.

“Yeah the kid explained the whole barrier ordeal, luckily if Frisk gets past I can get past also.” Flowey beamed rather happy to be allowed past without the hassle of needing a soul.

“Well that simplifies things doesn’t it, that means of the four monsters here we still have two leftover souls.” Nacarat proclaimed positively.

“We still need to wait for Snowdrake’s return, wherever he headed off to.” Papyrus huffed stamping his foot rather agitated. Everyone was beginning to wonder where Snowdrake had wandered off to. Grillby however was beginning to wonder if he had gone savage while gone.

“Well we’re leaving without him if he’s not back on time.” Papyrus declared. Grillby seemed the only one who looked in agreement.

‘We can’t leave him behind, maybe he’s just scouting around.’ Frisk suggested. Nacarat gazed carefully as she signed.

“So uh… scout… I got that much. Yeah, he can fly so it’s reasonable.” Nacarat agreed. He was glad he’d learnt bits and pieces already, and he had a great memory, it wouldn’t be hard to remember it all.

“I don’t care what he’s doing, if he’s not here, we go.” Papyrus huffed crossing his arms.

“Come on we don’t just leave others behind.” Nacarat protested.

“We don’t have time to wait around.” Papyrus growled, his fists clenching.

“It can’t be that hard to wait around an extra few hours.”

“We don’t have a few hours!”

“And why not, it can’t be that bad!”

“I’m sorry did you see those spears in Grillby’s bar? Those are very, very recent. If she’s insane we need to leave right now!” Papyrus shouted, drawing his sword threateningly. Everyone in the room froze, eyeing Papyrus in fear. Papyrus himself didn’t seem to care, he wanted his point across and he had succeeded.

Finally, after what felt like several agonising minutes, he sheathed his sword. As he stood in place his anger slowly subsided. The others around the room though didn’t feel any safer. Papyrus could easily lash out with his magic keeping them all on edge.

“We are leaving in an hour, whether you come or not is up to you.” Papyrus finally said, walking off to his room and shutting the door rather gently.

“Well uh… that was interesting. I’ve never, ever seen him like that.” Flowey spoke delicately, his fear finally leaving his body. “I can finally feel again and I can say, I did not miss being scared.” He laughed nervously.

“Flowey I don’t think anybody has been the same since this virus.” Nacarat muttered to himself. A slight whine grabbed the interest of everyone in the room. It sounded like a sad sound, but they couldn’t tell what from.

‘What was that?’ Grillby signed, looking around. Soon, all eyes landed on Frisk, who was trying her best to hold back the tears.

“Oh Frisk no no no, don’t cry don’t cry, please don’t cry.” Flowery begged, nuzzling her cheek gently. “Come on, just keep calm, Papyrus didn’t mean to scare you.” Flowey assured, creeping his vine around to face Frisk directly.

Frisk took a few steps backwards when her back hit the wall, sliding down and bringing her knees up to her chest. She hugged herself and bit down onto her arm, the first tears leaking out of her eyes. Flowey continually tried to calm her down, giving her strings of compliments and words of reassurance but to no avail.

Grillby and Nacarat stood by awkwardly, neither were sure if they could do anything to help. Neither had to deal with somebody crying very often, especially a human child. Were humans like monsters in terms of emotions? Could they be cheered up the same ways a monster could? Neither knew, and neither wanted to see if they were wrong.

“Frisk hey, come now, there’s no need for tears.” A vine began to grow from a place in her back and wiped the tears from her face. “Wow I can do that too huh?” Flowey smirked, surprised by his own abilities. Frisk was just surprised it didn’t hurt.

‘Why is he so mean to me?’ Frisk thought to her flower companion, seemingly ignoring Floweys minor discovery.

“I uh… I honestly don’t really know, he’s never been this cruel.” Flowey admitted. Grillby and Nacarat exchanged a look. Frisk didn’t sign did she? Why did Flowey respond.

‘I don’t like it here anymore, I just want to go home, I hate this bet.’ Frisk moaned, biting onto her own arm a bit harder.

“Yeah… we all want out. And w-hey don’t do that, why you doing that?” Flowey asked while gesturing to her biting her arm with his vine.

‘The pain is distracting.’ Frisk shrugged. Flowey sighed and tapped her arm gently.

“Well there’s no need for that while I’m here.” Flowey cooed, tempting her to stop her biting. Frisk slowly unclenched her jaw and stopped biting her own arm. “See, there we go, much better.”

‘I guess…’ Frisk sighed, burying her head in her arms.

“Come on you can’t hide from me Frisk. I am literally a part of you.” Flowey giggled, a vine curling around Frisks shoulders, giving her a gentle squeeze.

‘I can try.’ Frisk mumbled, a tiny smile snaking its way onto her lips. Flowey leaned in and nuzzled his head against hers.

“That a girl, just got to be positive, don’t’cha.” Flowey smiled, leaning back out and situating himself back next to Frisk. He lay his head on her shoulder, letting out a gentle sigh. “Feeling better Frisk?” Flowey asked.

‘I guess… considering the circumstances.’ Frisk shrugged. Flowey nodded in understanding, retracting his vine back into Frisks back and resting against her shoulder.

Thumping was heard on the roof of the house, like something had landed on it. It sounded like footsteps along the tiling. Interesting they were uneven steps. One was light, the other heavy, it seemed like somebody was limping. Ready in case they came down through the roof, Grillby lit his hands and watched intently.

It stopped for a moment when a loud crash was heard from outside. Whatever was on the roof was now outside the door. Grillby snuck closer as Nacarat and Frisk backed away from the door. Even Papyrus opened his room and readied his magic just in case. The doorknob twisted, the door blasting open from the harsh winds.

“Fuck the cold.” Snowdrake hissed, slamming the door shut behind him.

“Snowdrake! Don’t swear in front of the kid!” Flowey berated, a few leaves sprouting from his body to cover Frisks ears, not that they’d help her.

‘I’m not that young Flowey.’ Frisk mumbled in response.

“Not that young? You’re only 11, that’s too young for words like that.” Flowey sent a glare in Snowdrakes direction.

“So you’ve returned at last, so we can leave now?” Papyrus asked in a monotone voice. Snowdrake scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“I checked the area, surveyed the land, whatever you want to call it. It’s mostly clear, I was able to fly above the blizzard surprisingly. There aren’t many clear patches which I guess is a good sign, but there is a big one heading our way, so I say we go like now.” Snowdrake spoke with emphasis, eager to leave.

“Ok so something is headed our way, that means we go now, no arguments this time.” Papyrus ordered, sending a glare to everyone in the room.

“Yeah we get it Paps, no need for the call back.” Nacarat shrank back in memory.

“Whatever, grab whatever you can, we go now.” Papyrus slung a rucksack over his shoulder and made his way for the door. Grillby had grabbed a raincoat while he searched the house, changing in the kitchen quickly before emerging and putting on a wide brimmed hat.

“It’s not going to rain anytime soon.” Snowdrake retorted, rolling his eyes.

‘It’s not for here.’ Grillby pointed out. Nobody else really had anything to take so they all made their way to the door. Papyrus hesitantly put his hand on the door knob, opening it slowly.

A shiver went up everybody’s spine, not from the cold but from the distinct lack of wind. Instantly the group began to head for the exit to Snowdin, going straight for Waterfall. Grillby crossed his fingers in hope that whomever was clearing the blizzard was not in Waterfall.

“Snowdrake, you didn’t tell us they were this close.” Papyrus hissed rather harshly.

“Well shoot I didn’t know they were this fa-“ Snowdrake screeched, stopping dead in his tracks when something flew past him in a blur. “What was that?!”

“Hold it there demons!” A voice called out over the snow. Each head turned to the source of the voice coming from the trees, a large blue figure wearing very little standing by them, a scythe in their left hand. 

“Undyne…” Papyrus whispered, barely audible in the gentle wind.

“I helped create you, now I will end you!” Undyne readied her scythe and charged forth with surprising speed. Each member scattered to get away, Undyne locking her eyes on Frisk. In a moment of panic Flowey rose a wall of vines to block her, but her scythe cleaved through the vines. When it did they all blackened and withered, dying at a rapid pace.

“What kind of scythe is that?” Flowey shrieked in alarm. He shot out a few vines to knock her back as Frisk ran, a few managing to hit her but they failed to stumble her.

“Your soul is mine!” Undyne brought her scythe down onto Frisk with a grin, but was met with a sword. Looking to see who had deflected her scythe, she saw Papyrus had parried her blow, an intent glare on his face. “You, you defend a human, demon.” Undyne scowled, striking at Papyrus.

“Undyne, it’s me!” Papyrus pleaded, parrying her next strike. It was difficult to do so, Undyne was exceptionally fast, faster than Papyrus remembered. As she brought the scythe in a downwards motion Papyrus held the sword in front of his face. The scythe was less than an inch away from his face, the blade seemingly reaching out with shadowy energy.

“What is that?” Papyrus spoke through gritted teeth. Undyne gave a toothy grin and shoved Papyrus backwards to prepare for her next attack. A mask from Nacarat flew to her position but she struck it down with ease.

“I see you are all interested in my scythe, demons. It’s Death’s scythe, one minor cut and you’re dead!” She cackled, going for Papyrus’ stomach. He managed to raise a wall of bones in defence, the scythe becoming lodged in the wall.

As Undyne tried to dislodge it Snowdrake dug into her back with his claws, growling ferociously. Undyne roared in pain and fell backwards, landing atop of Snowdrake. He let out a sound of distress as she spun around, grabbing onto his neck. Papyrus kicked her off before she could do any real damage however.

Undyne snarled menacingly, reaching her hand out towards her scythe. To everyone’s surprise the scythe ripped itself from the bone of walls and returned itself to her hand, whistling as it flew through the air. Before anybody could speak Undyne ran into Waterfall, cackling as she fled from the battle.

“Run from danger just to live another day!” Was all she said as she vanished around the corner. Everybody slowly lowered their guard catching their breath and trying to figure out what exactly happened.

“Did anybody catch what she called us?” Nacarat asked the group.

“She called us demons! Us!” Flowey cried out in protest, Frisk flinching at his outcry.

“Why would she be declaring such wild accusations; it doesn’t make sense?” Papyrus asked, rubbing his chin as he thought it over. A few ideas crossed his mind but none made enough sense and were shot down.

“Do you think the virus affects how monsters see?” Nacarat suggested to the group. Papyrus snapped his fingers.

“Nyeh-heh! Of course Nac, those infected see other monsters as demons, or essentially just really evil creatures. That would explain why they attack so relentlessly, they think they’re defeating a greater evil to protect people.” Papyrus deducted.

“You really think so?” Flowey asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Well I mean… you come up with something better.” Snowdrake defended Papyrus. Though he didn’t need the help he appreciated it anyway.

“Fair enough, I don’t see anything wrong with that.” Flowey admitted.

“Well now that that’s settled, let’s move on.” Papyrus instructed, turning away from the group and marching on, cape flapping behind him.

“W-wait hang on! We aren’t really going to where she went… are we?” Flowey called, uncertainty layered in his voice. He didn’t need an answer, they all knew they had to, there was only one way to the capitol, and it was right through Waterfall.

The rain was pelting down like a storm, akin to Snowdin and its blizzard. Flowey thankfully grew a large leaf to act as an umbrella for Frisk. Nobody liked the rain but Grillby in particular was rather fearful. He shot Snowdrake a look of triumph from his earlier statement, Snowdrake in turn rolling his eyes.

“Yeah alright you were right, don’t have to be a smug asshole.” He spat, trailing behind to be at the back of the group. As they made their way through there was an echo flower sitting to their right.

“Hey an echo flower. They always repeat the last thing they heard.” Flowey whispered to Frisk. She approached it curiously and leaned in, listening intently. As she did she finally heard it whisper back.

“You’re in my territory now.” It replied. Frisk felt her face drain of colour and back peddled from the flower in fright.

“Yeah uh let’s catch up.” Flowey urged, noticing the group carried on ahead. Frisk jogged to catch up when they all stopped at a sentry station. “What’s the hold up?” Flowey asked.

“Sans’ station has a note on it.” Papyrus pointed out. Frisk peered over to see a note taped to the top just beneath the roof where the rain just could not hit it. She read it to herself in her head.

‘If you lot have made it this far I’m proud of you. Just remember Papyrus, Frisk could be your last hope at getting out of here, keep her safe. Snowdrake, just hold on, Grillby I’ll pay you back when this is over, and Nacarat… stay positive.’ Frisk scratched her head.

“How could Sans have known about this… this is ridiculous.” Nacarat breathed.

“He could have placed this recently?” Snowdrake gave a possibility. Though from the tone of his voice even he was actually doubtful of his suggestion.

“No this note has been here a while, I can tell. Roughly… three months.” Papyrus examined with a grimace. Papyrus was glad he was able to detect minor details in things, he had learnt to do so from Sans.

“How is that even possible? Sans couldn’t have known about our group coming through here!” Snowdrake protested.

“Wouldn’t be the strangest thing about Sans.” Papyrus merely shrugged on continued on his way. As they continued on their way Frisk thought she saw something behind the station but dismissed it. As they continued on their way however Frisk couldn’t shake off the feeling they were being watched, and not by Undyne.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you people go, the awaited third chapter. You can probably see why it bugged me for so long. I'm sure plenty of you have questions so feel free to ask if one is particularly bugging you. I don't bite... unless that's what you're into.


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